Iraq Soldier Discusses His "Kills" (VIDEO)

In the spring of 2007, a conference was held on the outskirts of Washington, DC. Entitled Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan, it hearkened back to the Winter Soldier testimonies held three decades ago during the Vietnam War. Of the testimonies we filmed, this one, by Iraq War vet Jon Michael Turner, was the most compelling and intense.

Watch the video below:

Find more stories and video from the American News Project here.

Comments

[DesertLight]

So, now tell me what the hell is the point of this video?

[saltpeter]

The point of this video is to make the general public aware of the fact that what they know, or think they know about our endeavors in both Afghanistan and Iraq is a fallacy. We are not conducting military operations there to bring about anything resembling peace. We are there, pure and simple, to create an imperialist presence. It wouldn't be so bad if the leaders of our nation had enough balls to admit it and to, at least, inform the soldiers that that is, indeed, their mission, but we don't. We string these men and women along with BS rhetoric about freedom and fighting terrorism when what we do is create a form of terrorism that's worse than any ever inflicted on Afghans by the Taliban or on Iraqis by Saddam. The number of civilians killed and tortured by our own military for no seemingly good reason makes Saddam and the Taliban look like paragons of peace. If you want to continue to stand behind these actions and know that the end result of it all is to create greater for our nation and continued ridicule for the US around the world, you can do just that. These soldiers are not psychologically prepared to conduct a war in this manner with the objective being nothing but imposing a form of evil and malice on people who have seen enough for 20 lifetimes.

[nonconformist2]

Amen!

[Chupacabras]

What for? If after viewing and listenning to it,you don't "get it", certainly, you don't have the mental capacity understand its meaning.

Go watch Spongebob, it may be more revealing to you.

[instagladiator]

Good point. Being a Vietnam vet, the first thing that struck me about this young mans comments was that "He's only sorry?" He should get his butt on a plane to Iraq, visit the family & loved ones of His First Kill, drop to his knee's and beg for forgiveness. He's no different from a mindless gang member (with a gun) on a street corner in downtown LA. Apparently his brain is the same size as ole W'w? Honor & Duty my ass, mere vigilantes on the loose. Nothing more, nothing less. This is disgusting.

[KBAR]

Moveondotorgy had some extra Soro's cash.

[saltpeter]

I don't recall George Soros being a war proifteer that is forcing young American soldiers to kill INNOCENT CIVILIANS. Whenever there is less-than-desirable information leaking out about our involvement in both Iraq and Afghanistan, neo-cons always chalk it up to be left-wing propaganda instead sadly and disturbedly the TRUTH. No matter who funds how the information reaches the masses (because surely the corporate media would not dare tell the public about harsh realities like this) it doesn't make it any less TRUTHFUL. If you can't deal with the truth because it wasn't presented to you by Fox "NEWS" that's your problem. Keep burying your head in the sand until all the innocent screams go away.

[ultrabop]

To show that innocent people are being murdered for no reason other than to fulfill president bush's homicidal wet dreams.

[reelcobra]

I'm pleased that the HuffPo crowd has dropped the pretense that we "support the troops but not the mission". That wasn't fooling anyone anyway.

As the comments here prove, "progressives" don't support our troops. We don't even like them much, and when one speaks of committing attrocities, we play "gotcha" and blame all of them.

That's why we rewarded John "Reporting for Duty" Kerry for coming back from Vietnam and testifying against his former buddies.

We hate troops.

When John Kerry tells college kids if they fail school they will have to go into the military, we smile and wink.

Our problem is that the great "bitter" and "clinging" majority, (they used to be the "Silent Majority and boy did we look down on them!) doesn't understand that we are above them.

They don't appreciate our condescending, paternalistic attitude.

And they will probably miss the point of this fine HuffPo "scoop".

What a waste.

[saltpeter]

Obviously, even these VERY BRAVE soldiers are conflicted about the missionand they are in no way suggesting that our presence in both Afghanistan and Iraq is achieving the PUBLICLY STATED goals. These soldiers know now about the pure greed that drives both of these wars and the malicious underpinnings that are at hand. And you wanna talk about condescension. It's condescending on the part of the government toward our military men to lay out an objective that purposely has no end in sight. it's condescending to these soldiers to avoid telling them about the imperialist corporatists for whom this war is really fought on behalf of. It's condescending to disregard input from military brass on the lead up to the war about the number of troops and amount of armour and supplies that will be necessary to fight it. It's condescending to rely on the the minds of chickenhawks and draft dodgers like Cheney and Wolfowitz and Bremer to conjur up the plans while real heros like Powell and the intelligence community that had grave reservations about the endeavors are left out of the discussions.

Get off your moral high horse. Every war America engages in is NOT fought with the soldiers, the safety of the average American, and the future reputation of our nation in mind of those that perpetuate it. And it's condescending to the soldiers and the average American to judge them as unpatriotic and "unsupportive of the troops" when they finally become aware of that fact.

[Hallucinocynic]

What the heck is supporting the troops? What does that mean? I spent over a year in a combat zone and NEVER experienced the support of the folks back home. I guess USO tours are the result of some otherwise unspecified 'support.' Watching Ann Margret prance around a portable stage, 100 yards away, hardly smacks of 'support.' But hey, if that's all you've got...

I do not recall any conversations with other grunts revolving around whether or not the American public 'supported' us. I doubt that many grunts in Iraq dwell on the question of whether the American public 'supports' them.

We ask young people to fight our proxy wars. Sometimes they do bad things. We should keep that in mind before we send them off to war. That's what the video was about.

[mike53]

"We hate troops". Thank you for at least being honest. Most liberals say they support our troops. They say that for political reasons.

[amanda85]

So, you support the murder of innocent civilians, right?

[tdeg]

Are you just going to continue through life thinking that everything the American military does is ok?

You neo-cons are all the same. You feel nothing for innocent people getting killed or tortured by our military except anger when their actions are brought to light.

Absolutely disgraceful.

And when you comment about John Kerry's joke when you know damn well he misspoke (all you have to do is look at the transcript of his prepared remarks), it shows how out of touch with reality you really are. Get over yourself.

[Mr. Cobb]

And these individuals will be returning to all your local police forces across this country. Support the Troops will be Back the Badge when they begin blowing us away. Way to go bush supporters.

[ruddie]

I agree..
These are the hero's we're supposed to honor ?

[MrMike513]

And don't forget all the KNOWN gang members who have been allowed to enlist in order to meet recruitment goals. What fun the streets of our cities will be when these guys come home, fully trained by Uncle Sam in the art of terrorizing citizens.

[Liberoservative]

Please bring us home... ending this war is NOT surrender.... McCain needs to get a grip on reality...
I am not sure if this wound that we have created will ever heal..... :*(

Obama 08

[KBAR]

ending this war is NOT surrender..

If it walks, quacks and skata's like a duck it's SURRENDER!

[1LTUSMC]

You cannot win an OCCUPATION. You cannot lose and OCCUPATION. You cannot surrender an OCCUPATION.

You can begin an OCCUPATION and you can end an OCCUPATION. The only legitimate goal of an OCCUPATION is to end it as soon as possible.

We have been OCCUPYING Iraq since the fall of Saddam when the Iraqi WAR ended.

You can conduct an OCCUPATION with honor and humanity. For the most part, we did exactly that in Germany and Japan. To do so, it is absolutely essential that you have intelligent, honorable, and compassionate leaders.

We had such leaders 60 years ago. We don't have such leaders now.

Therefore, our OCCUPATION of Iraq is illegitimate and indefensible.

We will demonstrate more national honor by ending our Iraqi OCCUPATION as soon as possible.

[Liberoservative]

Part 1
Let us talk about the definition of Surrender
Definition:

1. giving up fight: an act of declaring defeat at the hands of an opponent
The French demanded an unconditional surrender.
Okay, this one has no merit because we should have never been in this fight to begin with..... so you can not surrender from something you started yourself...
2. giving up control: an act of relinquishing control or possession to somebody or something
this one is putting control back in to the Iraqi hands where it should have been in the first place... .this is not surrender... we had NO RIGHT to exercise imperial democracy in this nation
3. delivery into legal custody: the delivery of a prisoner or fugitive into legal custody
Well, we have certainly delivered 100,000's innocent Iraqi to their death... and we have many more "detainees"... OBTW.. the one in Charleston, SC? He is costing us over 1 MILLION dollars a year for his stay in the brig.

[Liberoservative]

Part 2
4. law abandonment of legal rights: the abandonment of legal rights, especially the giving up of a lease or an insurance policy before it has expired
Well, our "lease" expires in December... then what are we going to do?
5. giving self up to authorities: an act of willing submission to authorities
Since we are the "authorities" on how Iraq should run Iraq.. then I guess you might be right on this one... we are surrendering to ourselves....

It hurts to tell yourself that war for war's sake is wrong.. and that to impart Democracy might now work everywhere if you try to do it by force.... you can Democratize through example.. not through guns and bullets.... So I will repeat... taking our war troops out of Iraq is not surrender... I am not saying that since we reduced one of the most historic nations in the world to rubble.. that we have no obligation to rebuild... but that should be with a Mid East coalition.. if anybody over there will even talk to us anymore...

[ebanks84]

Yes, if you can just hold on just a little bit longer until Obama gets into office so we can bring you home. God bless all of you for doing your job and nothing more.

[nonconformist2]

Every time McCain talks about war, he gets this gleam in his eye which makes me question his mental stability.

[azim12]

wow
i miss when we were a great and noble nation

[awcbuddy8]

Then you should probably leave.

[tea in the harbor]

You're not so big on that whole "freedom" thing, huh?

[nonconformist2]

Somebody has to pick up the pieces after the neo cons have destroyed everything in sight.

[Apov]

Yeah, it's really sad, isn't it?
We really have taken the low road.
The thought of this being a Christian nation is laughable.

[MrT3]

lol...when was that?

[Erdgeist]

It takes three to have a war: warmongers, the credulous and the press. The link between the warmonger and the credulous is our press who really serve the warmongers. For the rest of his life, this young man's soul will be scared, while the warmongers and the press have no compunction.

[nonconformist2]

Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and George W. Bush sleep like a baby. Although Georgie Porchie did give up golf in support of the troops!

[sandman323]

Why is this the first time that I have heard of these meetings? That is sad. You can see the pain in his face, knowing that he cannot take back what he did.

[esquire07]

Americans don't care - to busy watching American Idol.

Dead Iraq men, women and children = Halliburton Profits = Money in Dick Cheney's bloody criminal pockets.

Its that simple - War - Killing - Murder = Big Profits for the Oil and Arms dealers.

Capitalism hard at Work :-)

[mike53]

Explain please. Your remarks are to stupid to understand. Lets discuss this.

[protagonia]

+ mike53 See Profile I'm a Fan of mike53

Explain please. Your remarks are to stupid to understand. Lets discuss this
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's "too stupid to understand"

Not "to stupid..."

[moonejes]

Little George ,is too busy campaning for OLD Mccain,What "WAR"?!

[RSU]

I have contacted my congressman to look into the possibility that this man is admitting to war crimes.

[VNJD]

Is there any way to verfiy anything Turner is saying?... didn't think so.
Question authority.

[RSU]

If what Jon Michael Turner is saying is true, then he is probably guilty of war crimes. He is certainly admitting to a crime by delivering fire at a Mosque in anger as a form of retribution for every soldier, sailor, airman, and Marine is warned over and over, both before and during combat operations that the LOAC applies and will result in punishment if violated.

Why did he shoot the 'fat man'?

Why did he shoot the man on the bike?

If he had no good reason to shoot them then he is guilty of murder.

It is men like him that give our military its bad name. It is video admissions of war crimes such as this that are used to besmirch our brothers and sisters in arms as war criminals.

This man, if what he is admitting to is true, should not be lauded for his forthrightness, but condemned for betraying his oath, his services creed, and the high standards of the Unites States Military.

If I had the power to do so, I'd investigate his claims and if found to be true, try this man for his crimes.

[researcher]

this is the price of war.

this causes negative karma

karma time in america.

[ObamaFarmer]

This war is a product of the America-hating right. (Yes, the majority of America thinks the war was a mistake.)

[MetalCanuck]

Ain't that America..home of the free.